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Published on Thursday, August 26, 2004
in the Bradenton Herald
ARCADIA - The call Manatee Sheriff's Deputy Ned Foy got Wednesday afternoon was typical in DeSoto County since Hurricane Charley swept through the area Aug. 13.
Several sheep had been attacked by packs of wild dogs at 2031 N.W. Pine Bluff. When he arrived, he found two seriously injured sheep with limbs broken and another barely alive with major damage to its throat.
Foy pulled out his 9mm handgun and put the trembling creature out of its pain. The other two will recover with veterinary treatment.
"I'm sorry, that thing's suffering," Foy said, upset by the animal's injury.
Foy is one of dozens of Manatee County law enforcement officers who were deployed throughout the state. Bradenton, Palmetto and the sheriff's office have all sent personnel to Hardee, DeSoto or Osceola counties to assist in any way possible. The state of Florida requests help from an agency under mutual aid provisions, and each agency is reimbursed the cost by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Most officers and deputies have handed out supplies, unloaded trucks, helped cut down trees - a little bit of everything. But the main purpose for Foy and other officers is to patrol the roads and reassure residents worried about their homes, property and livestock.
There has been reason for residents to worry. The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office has made at least six arrests in connection with looting of businesses and homes. There have been several unconfirmed cases of price gouging and theft of generators and air conditioners, Foy said.
Foy patrolled western DeSoto County looking for people loading aluminum onto their trucks to make sure they had permission to take the scrap metal.
For people like Tricia Paulson, who came to Arcadia from Highlands County, scavenging aluminum is a way to help out and make a little money. She expects to only get about 15 cents for a pound of the scrap, maybe $200 for the whole truck.
Foy pulled his cruiser over in the DeSoto Village manufactured home park to talk to Paulson and a crew that was loading the scrap onto a U-Haul truck.
"She's obviously talked to the manager of the park," Foy said after interviewing Paulson, satisfied that she had the proper paperwork. "We just make contact, make sure they had the right to be here."
For Paulson, it was the fourth time she has been questioned by law enforcement officers about picking up aluminum.
"It's 100 percent understandable," Paulson said. "It's good to know that they're out there patrolling."
One of the surest sights in all of the hardest-hit counties was the sight of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and cruiser directing traffic or escorting emergency vehicles.
Lt. Doug Dodson, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said multiple troops from around the state have been helping out in the hardest-hit areas 12 hours a day for 18 days straight.
Troop E from Miami was in Charlotte County, Troop L from Palm Beach covered DeSoto County, and Troop G from Jacksonville flooded Hardee County.
Dodson said the officers provided traffic support, patrolled areas and enforced the curfew. He said troopers stationed in Charlotte County escorted the county's voting machines as they were led from a destroyed warehouse to Fort Myers to ready them for the Aug. 31 primary.
"You name it, they are doing it," Dodson said.
The Bradenton Police Department sent 12 officers to Kissimmee who came back Friday night. Maj. J.J. Lewis, spokesman for the department, said the officers worked to prevent looting and unloaded trucks like most other officers.
"We want to offer assistance in case we ever need it here," Lewis said.
The Palmetto Police Department has not been deployed by the state as yet, but has had officers volunteer in their off-time to help out. Capt. Clyde Hedrick said he and a few officers went to Wauchula in Hardee County for a few days to help clean up downed trees and debris with chainsaws.
He expects a few officers to be requested by the state within the next week.
"We are working out a schedule with Tallahassee's EOC," Hedrick said. "My guys are very anxious to go down and help out other law enforcement officers."
Hedrick's officers should be ready for anything, like trying to track down the pack of wild dogs that killed a small group of sheep. Foy said that wild dogs have not been the only livestock problems in the county. He said one exotic pet owner's menagerie temporarily cut loose after the hurricane.
"We had at least one emu running loose and at least one lion," Foy said chuckling. "It's been a little bit of everything."